Finsatsea: October 23 - Agra and the Taj Mahal

At breakfast this morning in the hotel I decided to try the Indian selections. I’m not sure what I had except I know lentils were involved and it was all very tasty. Our driver Jugga came promptly at 9AM to take us on to Agra. Despite the fact that it’s the big holiday, traffic was still insane as we drove through Delhi on our way to the highway to Agra. As we drove out of the city we passed through some growing suburbs with huge complexes of high rise buildings, many of them still under construction. One section had enough buildings of 30 or more stories that it alone could probably house the population of Newport News. Jugga told us that these are for people who work in Delhi and commute. The commute could take them more than an hour.

After passing the last of these small (1.7 million population!) cities we began traveling through farmland. There were lots of fields of rice and corn. The fields were being worked with manual labor. There were no houses among the fields but we did see every now and then a village which is evidently where the farmers live. We passed through one region that had lots of tall smokestacks. These were brick makers and around the stack there would be piles and piles of red bricks. I guess the clay in that region is good for brickmaking. Once again we saw that there is a haze everywhere and I think it’s a layer of pollution that just hangs over. I wonder if it ever blows away.

The drive to Agra took about three and a half hours mainly on a toll highway. Along the way we passed lots of very full buses. One had a fellow sitting on the roof of the bus hanging on as it motored along. When is the last time you’ve seen that? We had a brief pause at a highway convenience stop, the equivalent of our rest stop but where people were washing their cars and getting tea. A little past noon we arrived in Agra and made our way to our hotel. The drive took us through narrow and winding streets with all kinds of shops and stands lining the way. Everywhere their were vendors selling strings of bright yellow and orange flowers and special sweets to celebrate Diwali. Buses and trucks had strands of these flowers draped to decorate them. On the streets there were all manner of vehicles from tuc-tucs, the little three wheeled open taxis, to buses and horse carts. Occasionally a cow would wander across and everyone stopped. Bicycles and scooters wove in and out of traffic. It was unlike any ride we’ve been on including our stops in Bangkok and Guangzhou many years ago. We got our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal as we drove along.

Washing a car at the rest stop

The fellow we saw riding on the roof was on a bus just like this and clinging to the rail for dear life

Our hotel for the next two nights is the Oberoi Amarvilas. The building combines Indian and modern architecture. Every room has a direct view of the Taj looking across the 50+ acres of the manicured grounds of the hotel. After lunch we’re off to see the place that has become the symbol of India.